Letter to the Editor: Wall Street Journal

Friday, May 09, 2008 Register Login

To the Editor

The Wall Street Journal

As former Vice-president and Technical Director of The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., I read with interest articles mentioning the attributes of plastics and, unfortunately, find many scientifically uninformed and some even deliberately misleading. Laura Landro’s article on “green” hospitals (“Hospitals Go ‘Green’ to Cut Toxins, Improve Patient Environment,” Oct. 4) is the former.

Ms. Landro’s article is an uncritical recitation of the assertions made by the politically correct, and often factually incorrect, green movement in its ongoing efforts to demonize vinyl and other plastic materials, which, for many years, have played a major role in improving health care, saving energy and benefiting many other human endeavors, including economics.

While Ms. Landro cites a number of activist groups as “environmental health experts,” she unfortunately ignores many other experts who could have helped her provide some perspective to your readers, including the numerous government agencies in the U. S. and in Europe, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Food & Drug Administration, that have examined and refuted the claims made in her article about the alleged toxicity of vinyl. The Environmental Protection Agency notes that the production or disposal of vinyl is but a small contributor to the total amount of dioxin in the environment.

More important, Ms. Landro’s article fails to mention that objective life-cycle studies here and in Europe conclude that vinyl is as good as or better than competing materials in minimizing overall adverse health and environmental impacts. Furthermore, a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control (August 2000) supports the use of easy-to-clean surfaces such as vinyl in healthcare settings to control pathogens and promote a sterile environment.

Regarding the use of polystyrene foam cups, life-cycle inventory studies have shown that polystyrene foam products, in most cases, have environmental burdens lower than or comparable to those of alternative products studied, such as paper cups and plates.

Much has been written about the challenges today’s hospitals face in protecting patients from infection. Vinyl is not one of them. Indeed, in most cases, it is one of the most effective forms of protection.

Hugh Patrick Toner

Leesport, PA

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